


Rock Bottom

by sophiebowes



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Angst, Couple fighting, Established Relationship, Fluff, Happy Ending, M/M, One Shot, Reddie, first post on ao3 aye, this got way more angsty than i planned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-17
Updated: 2018-01-17
Packaged: 2019-03-06 00:38:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13399698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sophiebowes/pseuds/sophiebowes
Summary: A one shot inspired by Hailee Steinfeld’s Rock Bottom.Or, Richie and Eddie have a love/hate relationship.





	Rock Bottom

**Author's Note:**

> special thanks to my girl taylor (stranger-tozier on tumblr) for requesting this!!

Ever since they met, Richie Tozier and Eddie Kaspbrak had always bickered. Whether it was a joke that richie took too far or just overall pettiness, there was always a fight of some sort. In fact, the first time they ever talked was an argument. It was the first day of kindergarten and richie accidentally kicked eddie when he came down the slide. They argued for the rest of recess because “You should’ve watched where you were going!” “And you shouldn’t have been standing in front of the slide in the first place!” They had been best friends ever since. 

However, when they started dating, bickering became fighting. Being in a relationship brought bigger issues than taking jokes too far or kicking someone at the end of the slide. They fought over little things, like richie being messy or not washing the dishes. And bigger, more serious things, like money, in-laws, and jealousy. They got under each other’s skin more than anyone else but they loved each other nonetheless. 

It became a cycle. One day they would be all over each other and then the next they would be screaming at each other. It aggravated the losers to no end because they were always brought in the middle. Richie would take refuge with Bill and Stan at their place while Eddie stayed at the apartment, normally with Mike, Ben, and Bev. They would turn everyone against each other and it became even more messy. It was especially awful if they were all hanging out together and they got into a fight. Richie and Eddie would use the other losers as messenger pigeons. “Stan, will you please let Richie know that I hear him talking shit about me and that he should keep his trashmouth shut.” It was petty and passive aggressive and seemed unhealthy. 

Today, they were fighting about going back home to Derry. Richie had been homesick and was missing his family. He had planned on going, but he really wanted Eddie to come with him. 

“C’mon, Eds. My parents haven’t shut up about you and I’m sure your mom misses you.” 

“For the last time, I’m not going back to  
that shit hole. I don’t care if my mom misses me or not. I promised I would leave and never look back. And don’t call me Eds.” He shoved his plate into the sink and stormed off. 

Eddie wasn’t one that tolerated being prodded and Richie didn’t like taking no for an answer. He had already asked about three times and continued to argue about it. Eddie had a rough relationship with his mom growing up. She forced hypochondria on him and left him with a complex he could never fully rid himself of. When he left Derry he wanted to start over and forget all about his life there. He hadn’t been back since. 

Richie decided to let Eddie calm down upstairs alone and watched some tv in the living room. After a while, Eddie came down the stairs and sat with Richie on the couch. He immediately grabbed the remote and changed the channel. 

“What the hell?” Richie exclaimed through a mouth full of popcorn. 

“I want to watch something else” Eddie retorted. He was deciding to be petty.

“Newsflash, there’s another tv upstairs. You don’t have to come down here and change my show just to be petty.” He yanked the remote out of Eddie’s hand and focused on the tv, trying to ignore the steam coming out of Eddie’s ears. 

Eddie let out a dramatic sigh and Richie swore he could hear him mumble “fuck you” under his breath. He stomped up the stairs and returned 10 minutes later with a bag.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Richie questioned. 

“Going to Mike’s” He explained matter-of-factly and slammed the door behind him. 

Eddie knew that going to Mike’s would make Richie extremely mad. Eddie and Mike had a little fling at one point before he and Richie got together. Richie was pretty jealous and hated when Eddie would stay at Mike’s.

-

After about an hour or so, Richie started getting antsy. He was already fuming because Eddie knew exactly which buttons to push. He swiped back and forth on his home screen and tried to keep himself from texting Eddie.

He called Bill and vented to him for a while, which took up about half an hour. Bill was tired of hearing about their fights. It was obvious among the “yeah’s” and “mmhm’s” coming from him during the conversation. 

Once Richie was done talking to Bill, he couldn’t stop thinking. He hated fighting with Eddie. He loved him so much and he wished they didn’t fight as much as they did. He could feel it tearing apart their relationship and their friendships with the rest of the losers. But he couldn’t stop it. He had to talk to Eddie. 

He threw on his jacket and basically sprinted out the door. He took the brisk walk to Mike’s place and climbed atop the stairs to the door. 

He knocked lightly and the door was opened almost immediately. Mike gave Richie a small  
smile and finally spoke up “I think you guys have some talking to do.” He motioned toward Eddie, who was sitting on Mike’s couch, very clearly crying. Richie’s heart broke at the sight, he felt something inside him snap at the sight of his boy so upset. 

Mike slipped on his jacket and traded places with Richie, patting him on the shoulder in the process. “I’ll be back in a bit, you guys work this thing out, okay?” Richie nodded and pushed the door shut. 

He gently walked over to Eddie, who had his head turned and was sniffling. “Eddie?” Richie asked softly. No response. “Eddie Spaghetti? Eddie Bear? Eds?” Eddie snapped his head toward Richie “Don’t call me Eds.” It was an instinct. Richie called him Eds all the time, but it only bothered him when he was mad. 

Richie made eye contact and gave an apologetic smile. Eddie motioned for him to sit down. He was getting somewhere. 

“Eddie, I’m really sorry for arguing about going back home. It’s just that I miss my family and..” 

“Rich, that’s not why I’m upset.” 

Richie looked up at Eddie, puzzled, and Eddie explained further what he meant. 

“I’m not upset about that. I mean, I was at first, or at least I thought I was.” Richie gave him a very confused look. “But then Mike and I talked about it and I realized that I’m just... tired, Rich. I’m tired of fighting with you. I love you so much and I feel like we’ve spent half of our relationship in a fight.” Eddie shrugged and looked away. 

Richie could feel tears well up in his eyes. “Eds, I feel the exact same way.” Eddie perked up at that and laced his hand in Richie’s. “You’re my best friend and my soulmate and I hate fighting with you because every second we fight, I can feel us breaking farther apart. I hate it.” 

They talked through it some more and came up with ways to deal with their frustrations, rather than taking them out on each other. Eddie texted Mike to let him know that the apartment was free and that they had made up. 

The two laced their hands together and walked back to their apartment, arms swinging back and forth. 

They ended the night with a pizza in bed, watching The Breakfast Club and holding each other tight. Richie played with Eddie’s hair and counted his freckles while he drifted off. He was close behind and eventually fell asleep, arms wrapped tightly around his true love. 

-

Months went by and Richie and Eddie hadn’t had any huge blow ups. Sure, they still got under each other’s skin and they still bickered, but they felt more in love than they had ever been.

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on tumblr: smileystozier.tumblr.com  
> requests are always open!


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